Jain Journal 1974 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 19

OCTOBER, 19 7 4
ed the divine mountain-shrine of Astapada dedicated to Rsabhanatha by his son Bharata.42 Though Mahavira travelled in the pathless tracts of Radha 43 through Vajjabhumi and Subbhabhumi covering the highlands of West Bengal and the most of the Tirthankaras left their mortal frame on the Sammet-Sikhara the Jaina relics in the region are more eloquent of unchanging conclusions which breath of the metaphysics of the Nirgrantha.44 They are less concerned on external aspects of iconography and regarding the choice of an Arhat. By propagating his religion Mahavira brought back the annals of Rsabhanatha and other Tirthankaras to the living memory. His images are comparatively rare in Bengal and Bihar which were in antiquity so much sanctified by the holy doctrine of the Nirgrantha. The Mahavira-Gumpha also known as Trisula-Gumpha or Satbakhra at Khandiagiri in Orissa which contains the image of the Tirthankara in an eminent array reveals the survival of the Jaina tradition under the Gajapatis in the mediaeval period.45 The devotion has survived through epochs and determined, as it were, the entire faith to the Order in its own panorama often vague in the mist of oblivion. The large repertoire of Jaina remains in Purulia district of West Bengal is also eloquent in respect of the widespread distribution of such relics though Vardhamana has been seldom represented as an individual image. The examples at Pakbirra include an early mediaeval sculpture where Mahavira is associated with Graha-Devatas. Besides such instances, he is shown in groups seemingly to highlight the purport of his Teachings. Among the individual representations of Mahavira in West Bengal may
42 Studies in Jaina Art, p.116. 43 Dr. S. C. Mukherji : 'Cultural Heritage of Bengal in relation to Jainism', Babu
Chotelal Jain Smrti Granth, pp. 145ff. For Jaina antiquities in Bengal vide History of Bengal, Vol. I, edited by Dr. R. C. Majumdar. D. K. Chakravarty : 'A Survey of Jaina Antiquarian Remains in West Bengal', Mahavir Jayanti Souvenir, Calcutta, 1965. Bandana Saraswati : Jainism in Bengal'. Babu Chotelal Smrti Granth, p. 141. Sudhin De: 'Two Unique Inscribed Jaina Sculptures', Jain Journal, Vol. V No. 1 (July 1970), pp. 24ff. For a general observation about the ruins of Pakbirra vide the author's article entitled 'Pakbirra's Shrines of the Emancipated in Jain Journal, Vol.
V No. 3 (January 1971). 45 Udaygiri & Khandagiri, pp. 6, 57-58.